Teaching at SWOCC

26 July 08: Summer session is going well with an average of 8 students per session. Attendance is low during warm-enough-to-go-to-the-river-or-beach-weather or HOT evenings because the building does not have A/C and the heat builds-up during the day. Students seem to be enjoying the online resources that we explore during the Wednesday evening sessions. I am enjoying the 4-day weekends. I like the routine that has developed. Students sign-in and sign-out to clock their attendance hours. We spend the first hour on writing skills, the second hour on math skills, and during the third hour, students choose what they want to work on. Some students leave at that time because they work all day and have to get up early the next morning to go to work again. Some students take pre- or practice tests in the subtest area that they are focusing on. Some students use the computers to access online resources. And, some students continue to work on classwork assignments or enrichment tasks with tutoring as requested. This routine seems to be working well for everyone. I am enjoying teaching at this level and continue to explore all possibilities for getting a full-time position with benefits. There are three more weeks in this summer session then I travel back East to spend a month with family and friends.

06 July 08: The summer term has begun. We are holding one evening class session in the computer lab so students can access online resources to study for the GED and to learn English as a second language. Not as many students registered as I had expected; but, it is summertime!

21 May 2008: SWOCC academic counselor, Michelle, and I had the opportunity to visit the Adult Skills Learning Programs at the Coos Bay SWOCC campus. It was a 5-hour drive round-trip for a 3-hour visit; however, there is beautiful scenery along the coast and I did enjoy connecting with the staff on the main campus. We gathered some good ideas for our satellite campus in Brookings.

Later in the day, we participated in the annual awards assembly for our Brookings campus. I had the opportunity to give an award to students in each of the programs that I teach: Adult Basic Education (ABE), GED preparation, and English as a Second Language (ESL). These quotes describe the students who received these awards:

ABE, Kerri: "The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn." ~John Lubbock

GED, Tasha: "It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it." ~Jacob Bronowski

ESL, Lupe: "Language is not a genetic gift, it is a social gift. Learning a new language is becoming a member of the club -- the community of speakers of that language." ~ Frank Smith

And, "El que hable does lenguas vale por dos." (The person who speaks two languages is worth two.) ~ Spanish quote

Several students nominated me for an award, which was, indeed, rewarding. Here are their reasons for nominating me:

Kay is an exceptional instructor from whom I've learned quite a lot.

She is a very good teacher and always helps when we need it.

She believes that I can pass the GED if I work at it. I couldn't do it without her.

She tries to make sure we all understand before moving on.

She is never boring!

She is very smart and knows how to teach.

She is nice!

She can teach me until I get it.

05 May 2008: I was checking some GED practice essays that students had turned in for evaluation. One of my "Senior" students earned 2.9/4 points, so I rounded-up and gave her 3 tiny gold stars on her paper. When I gave her the essay, she teared-up and said, "This is the first gold star that I ever got in school." I have written an article for the local newspaper entitled, "It's Never Too Late to Earn a Gold Star." It has not yet been published.

24 April 08: My classes keep growing! I had 19 students attend on Tuesday. While the growth is great, it does present some challenges teaching students of multiple ability levels in such a huge age range. I also have four ESL students this term. I have a volunteer for one class and student assistant to help me in the other two classes with these students. This is not the best situation for them, or me, but small community colleges do not like to turn anyone away. I believe that the increased class size can be contributed to the lagging economy and it's spring so the high school students who failed out, have been pushed out, or dropped-out are seeking an alternative diploma with the General Educational Development certificate.

04 April 08: This first week of the spring term, 13 students have registered for the ABE/GED/ESL course that I teach three times a week at SWOCC. This is the best turn-out so far. The age range of my students is 16 to 56! Two sisters have registered: one is a grandmother and one is a great-grandmother. I had copied for the students the article posted on MSNBC about a 79-year-old great-grandmother in NC who just earned her GED proving that it's never too late to get that piece of paper! They appreciated that story.

23 March 2008: Term break is here and I'm taking a very long, deep breath. I will also be digging in the dirt planting in our gardens when the sun shines. If it gets warm enough, I'll take a long walk on the beach in search of starfish in the tide pools and a hike in the woods in search of wild irises. Hopefully, this fresh spring air will chase the flu bug away permanently!

29 February 2008: A month has passed and progress has been made! Many of the students are ready to take the reading, social studies, and science subtests of the GED test. I have found that if a student is a good reader, s/he has a good chance of also passing the social studies and science tests which are reading-based. Many will return next term for more instruction in math and writing.

It's amazing how much math I am learning teaching this course, and it's not as painful as I had thought it would be. The GED Connection books are great and so are the video-tapes. The books provide pre-tests, instruction and practice on skills, and practice tests in all five content areas of the GED. I give the pre-tests so students know what they can do and what skill areas they need to work on. Most students are scoring over 80% on the pre-tests in reading, social studies, and science, but scoring poorly in math and writing. So, I focus on group instruction in those two skill areas allowing time for individualized study and additional testing during the 3-hour session.

One of my students gave me some positive feedback this week: This is a serious course. You give us exactly what we need to know to pass the test. I like purchasing my own books that I can work in at home when I have time. I appreciate the Saturday tutoring when I can come in with questions about the work that I have done at home. I didn't expect to be ready to take any of the subtests this quickly.

I also have students who are studying to take or improve their scores on the Civil Service Exam. The GED instruction works for them as well. I found an excellent website for independent study for these students: Civil Service Exam & Test.

Three more weeks until our term break!

27 January 2008: The holidays have come and gone and it's back to work. The boxes are unpacked and a garage sale is being planned for early April. I am disappointed with the low enrollment this winter term; however, all of the students who took any part of the GED during the fall term passed! So, I have only a few students repeating the course focusing on a specific subsection of the GED. Several new students are studying for all five sections. The GED Connection books are exactly what we needed! Now, students can take pre-tests, receive some instruction with the video-tapes, participate in lessons in a small group, take practice tests, then after more individual practice, take a post-test. No longer will Stacy spend hours at the copy machine and we are saving money on paper and ink cartridges!

I posted fliers regarding the "pure" ESL class, but no students registered. I think that we are competing with services that provide childcare. So, we are trying to partner with the elementary school to provide ESL instruction to the parents while the children are also receiving ESL instruction. One local Mexican restaurant owner is also interested in having a course taught at the restaurant in the pre-opening hours.

I am teaching Human Development 100 this term. This is turning out to be a really FUN class! Learn more about the StrengthsQuest approach to life-long learning.

Now that the in-house move-in is basically over, we are cleaning-out the RV because we have a potential buyer who may drive it away at the end of February. We are still moving items from there to here, then both the inside and the outside must be cleaned before the new owners move-in. After that is accomplished and the garage sale is over in April, maybe we will feel like the move-in process has been completed.

I hope to get some of my documents for these courses uploaded after all of this busy-ness.

17 December 2007: Classes are over for this fall term. We learned a lot, but have much more to learn. Most of the students met their goals and passed all or parts of the GED exam. Some will return to focus their studies on parts not passed or to accumulate participation hours in order to qualify for scholarships. We are offering a Monday evening "pure" ESL course. This week, I will recruit students, posting a flier in stores, restaurants, and in the field-worker offices. I will also be teaching the Human Development 100 course focusing on positive psychology and transitioning from high school to college. For more information, visit StrengthsQuest. This winter break, I will finish unpacking and "nesting" in our new home. Happy holidays!

29 November 2007: I have found the companion books to the GED Connection video-tapes and requested that they be purchased for class for next term. The Literacy Link/GED Connection site has great resources for adult education. Instead of ordering 5 separate workbooks at $18 each for the 5 content areas from Steck-Vaughn, we can purchase a set of 3 workbooks that covers all of the content for $50 or less in larger quantities. This is a much better deal for students. Pre-GED books are also available for lower level students in adult basic education.

As money allows, I would like to use the English ASAP program from Steck-Vaughn for English as a Second Language students. This progam focuses on preparing adult learners for the workplace and contains unit-by-unit practice on the key language and grammar structures employees encounter on the job.

12 November 2007: I have resumed teaching my classes at SWOCC. All of the students have returned and some new ones have registered. On reflection, what I have learned is that students need both group lessons to process information and individual assignments on their academic ability level so that they can do independent study as time allows. So, I have revised my lesson plan to include both. I begin class with a group task including viewing video clips about math and writing skills and a group practice on that skill, then I move toward independent study. Students sign-in and sign-out so I have a record of the number of hours they participated in the class. Two of the students will be taking the GED test this Friday, so we have been focusing on that. I will be using the GED writing rubric to score essays and I will be word processing the essays written by the ESL students so that they can compare their writing with standard American English. We only have three more classes this term, and so much more to learn ...

26 October 2007: Off the road, bought a house in Brookings, OR, and took a position as an instructor at the local community college, Southwestern Oregon Community College, or SWOCC, or SOCC, Curry Campus. This is a satellite campus of the Coos Bay campus that is located in a building that looks like a residential house. The building contains three classrooms, a computer lab, and a few small offices. A new campus is in the architectural stages to be built on 10-acres just north of town.

I have been approved to teach several courses. I started with one Adult Basic Education/GED Prep course, then added a second section when the other instructor resigned, then added a third section on Saturday mornings to accommodate more students. I will be teaching a Human Development/College Success course next term, and hopefully a "true" ESL course. Because of limited enrollment, the English as a second language students are included in the ABE/GED classes, which is a very bad idea because these students need different teaching methods and materials.

Not surprisingly, when I reviewed the materials used in the ABE/GED/ESL courses, they were outdated and limited. This has been my experience in previous such programs as well. The previous two instructors gave pre-tests, distributed individual assignments, and gave post-tests. They did some individual tutoring, but little direct instruction in groups. Woe is me. How does one belong to a community of learners when no community is created? It is the connection with a community of learners that brings students back to the learning environment.

I have created a syllabus and a calendar/agenda for the courses. I am breaking the 3-hour class up into mini-sessions of direct instruction with short breaks in between. I will be posting all handouts in .pdf format soon.

I have ordered updated materials from Steck-Vaughn, especially in math because I need that instruction as well. I have ordered the Casio FX-60 solar calculator that students may use on one portion of the GED test. Students may purchase these materials or just use them in the classroom. Hopefully, we will order more updated materials for next term. The new dean, Jason Wood, is very responsive to my suggestions ensuring me that appropriate materials will be ordered and the programs will improve under his guidance and my teaching. He has previous experience in directing ABE/GED courses.

I was just getting into teaching when my father had two strokes and passed away so classes had to be cancelled until I returned. I needed to be with my family during that time. I have called the students personally to invite them back.

The students are unique. Most are interested in passing the GED. Some are married with children, some are very young. One student just turned 16; she has a waiver from her public school because she has not attended school since grade 8. Three students want to learn English. One earned his high school diploma in 1998, but wonders how he did so because his basic skills are weak and he wants to pass an exam to be a correctional officer at the prison. I respect their efforts to improve their academic skills and I hope that I can meet their individual needs in order to help them accomplish their academic goals.